Postural Stability of Young Visually Impaired Men Compared to Well-Sighted Peers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/v10251-012-0061-3Keywords
postural stability, visual impairment, force platform, centre of pressureAbstract
Introduction. Visually impaired people often have trouble with the smooth movement. They are exposed to the unexpected loss of balance, which greatly impedes their proper functioning in society. Among scientists there is no consensus on the possibility of compensating the lack of proper visual information in operation of postural control system. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the postural stability of visually impaired people and compare them with well-sighted peers by analyzing the values of selected posturographic parameters.
Materials and methods. The posturographic investigations were conducted with open and closed eyes in the group of young men from the Brail's Centre in Bydgoszcz and well-sighted high school students. The results obtained by visually impaired group were correlated with their vision level. The chosen posturographic parameters obtained by both investigated groups were also compared.
Results. Strongly visually impaired young men obtained better results of posturographic tests than those well-sighted peers with closed eyes. However, in a study with open eyes well-sighted students controlled posture significantly better than those with a vision defect.
Conclusions. The obtained results demonstrate the lack of full compensation of visual information loss in operation of postural control system by the visually impaired, which increases the risk of falls in this group. The postural stability in this group can be improved by an increased daily physical activity under the control of well cooperating doctors, therapists and educators.
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